Wen Rolls Out ‘Win-Win’ Strategy in Africa

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s extensive tour of Africa this week — part of Beijing’s quest to secure future energy supplies and raw materials for the country’s economy, is also being used as a platform to advance China’s foreign policy orientation on the continent and elsewhere in the developing world.

“It is one-sided or wrong to say China’s growing ties with Africa are purely for oil,” assistant foreign minister He Yafei told a press briefing last week. “The aim of Sino-African cooperation is mutual benefit… it is particularly conducive for the development of African countries.”
As part of the bargain for securing energy and mineral resources, China has been providing African governments with economic aid, technical assistance, interest-free loans and preferential credits. Chinese companies have been engaged in the construction of highways, hospitals, waterworks, palaces and sports stadiums. There are about 900 investment projects on the continent estimated to be financed with Chinese money.

Beijing’s growing political and economic interest in the continent has been matched by booming bilateral trade. Trade between China and Africa has nearly quadrupled since 2000, hitting a record of 39.7 billion US dollars last year, from 10.6 billion dollars.

Oil is the driving factor behind China’s growing engagement with Africa. Beijing has spent billions of dollars securing drilling rights in Nigeria, Sudan and Angola. It has also signed numerous exploration deals with various African countries from Republic of Congo in West Africa to Ethiopia. The continent now accounts for some 25 percent of China’s oil imports and Beijing wants to step them up to diversify from Middle-Eastern oil.

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